(upbeat music)
- The videos we made brought nuclear emergency preparedness
to life for the people in Ventura County.
Using communication methods
that resonate with our key stakeholders
allowed us to grow support for our program
and demonstrate why we needed to have
a nuclear emergency plan in place.
(upbeat music)
My name is Dr. Robert Levin,
and I've been the Health Officer
for Ventura County, California since 1998.
My focus on radiation emergency preparedness
began in the months after the 9/11 attacks.
Back then, discussions on terrorism frequently revolved
around anthrax and smallpox.
Having worked as a pediatrician
with a focus on infectious diseases,
I knew about the threats
and limitations of a biological release.
I believed a terrorist attack might instead target
critical US infrastructure,
such as the shipping ports along the West Coast.
Because that scale of attack
would require a nuclear detonation,
I started to investigate how our health department
could prepare for a nuclear emergency.
That investigation started a multi-year journey
to develop our radiation emergency preparedness program
and to build relationships with our community and partners
to engage them in the emergency planning process.
One of those relationships was with the CDC,
which was strengthened after we finished the first draft
of our radiation emergency preparedness plan.
That plan improved how we prepare
our radiation response teams for a radiation emergency.
What it needed to do better was engage the community
so that they were aware of and prepared for
the roles and actions they would need to perform
during a radiation emergency.
We needed more than just a plan.
We needed a relationship with the community,
built on information and trust,
that would support the kind of public response required
for a radiation emergency.
To build that trust,
we created the framework for a community awareness campaign
and found that the CDC offered grant support
to help translate our framework into a video appeal
for public radiation preparedness.
That funding helped us get
our radiation emergency preparedness campaign
off the ground.
Specifically by allowing us to build videos
that communicate a clear need for action
to our stakeholders.
We tested our videos in community focus groups.
Those who participated were overwhelmingly supportive
of how we used video to encourage public preparedness
for a nuclear emergency.
It also showed us how the topic of a nuclear detonation
elicited emotions ranging from curiosity
to genuine fear and concern
for the safety of themselves and those they care about.
That was when we knew the videos would be effective
at getting the public's attention
and a viable method to increase our community's awareness
and support for nuclear emergency preparedness.
But before we could release the videos,
we also needed the support of, and feedback from,
the county CEO and our county's five supervisors.
Their review highlighted another critical focus
for our awareness campaign.
How do we help parents feel confident
about their child's safety
if they need to shelter in place at school?
To answer that question
we sought out the participation of parents,
the Ventura County Schools emergency planner,
the superintendent of schools,
and local parent/teacher organizations.
Together, we created disaster plans and messages
to help educate teachers and parents
about how schools would keep their kids safe
and how communication would flow to provide them
with timely updates.
In this way, we strengthened our relationship
with the school systems in Ventura County.
When the time came
to launch the radiation emergency preparedness campaign,
we took special precautions
to ensure families with school-aged children
knew about it in advance.
We sent information to the students' parents
a few days before the campaign launched,
and a few days after the videos were released
we held a press conference
and a number of town hall meetings around the county.
Then we set up call centers to make sure the community
could get any additional questions answered quickly.
By collaborating with our partners
throughout the planning process,
the campaign launch went smoothly.
It was a success for our county
and helped our community feel more confident
about our emergency response plans
and how they would provide safety, information,
and updates during a radiation emergency.
We're now focused on building
and maintaining the community's interest
in radiation preparedness over the long-term.
This includes working with partners to encourage routine
radiation emergency preparedness exercises,
either independently or alongside other exercise plans.
We're also interested in establishing
a shelter in place moment,
which would be an annual drill to practice
the Get Inside, Stay Inside, Stay Tuned message.
Similar to how we practice sheltering during an earthquake,
the shelter in place moment
would encourage the community to practice actions
that would keep them safe during a radiation emergency.
Throughout this process,
CDC has been a resource I could turn to
and a relationship that's continued to grow over time.
What started as critical grant funding
to help us create our awareness videos
has evolved into opportunities to speak at conferences
and share our approach for promoting
radiation emergency preparedness planning in our county.
Since I'm a strong advocate
of the Get Inside, Stay Inside, Stay Tuned message,
some of the CDC resources I'm most passionate about
are the videos and infographics that showcase those actions.
I've found that videos,
like CDC's and the ones we created in our campaign,
help to make radiation protection concepts real
to the community
and help with getting buy-in from community stakeholders
to support preparedness efforts.
My hope is that our efforts here in Ventura County
not only help our community
prepare for a radiation emergency
but also help other localities
who are trying to do the same.
Creating a preparedness plan
and communication campaign was hard work,
especially with few resources,
but what kept us going was the positive impact it made
on our relationships with our partners and the community.
Seeing our community members participate
in the emergency planning process
and hearing them say, "Thank you.
"Someone is actually doing something about this,"
just reinforces my belief that with good communication
we can help motivate our communities
to prepare for a radiation emergency.